Detroit Red Wings

Thanks to the scheduling Gods at ESPN and a well-timed outpouring of precipitation by Mother Nature this weekend, I was handed a gift any sports fan would welcome during my holiday from work.

Thanks to the my streaming service, I don’t receive our regional sports network and I’m fiscally responsible enough to not pay for it ala carte. Therefore, my only opportunity to watch the hometown Detroit Red Wings is when they’re on a nationally televised game.

Bang!

Red Wings at Seattle Kraken at 3:30 p.m. televised by ESPN afforded me an opportunity to get a good look at the 2023/24 iteration of the Wings.

Detroit Red Wings — **^{Detroit Red Wing Patrick Kane celebrates Mo Seider’s first-period goal in Seattle. (Photo by Joe Nicholson/USA Today)}**

They didn’t disappoint, scrapping their way to a 4-3 overtime win and remain solidly in the playoff hunt in the NHL’s Eastern Conference.

Thanks to the Toronto Maple Leafs-St. Louis Blues game running late, the Wings’ start was pushed back and began only moments before the pageantry of “The Great American Race” began in Daytona Beach, FL.

Due to some heavy weather on Sunday, NASCAR’s super bowl – the Daytona 500 – was pushed to Monday afternoon at 4 p.m.

I kept the race on in the background during dinner and afterward, but really focused on it during the its final stage.

I always pull for Brad Keselowski who is a product of the school district where I work. So as he and Joey Logano were pushing for the lead against Ross Chastain in the race’s final 25 miles, I thought this might be the year Keselowski finally wins his first 500.

And then a massive pile up made a mess of the title hopes for many racers (Keselowski among them).

**^{A late-race accident at the Daytona 500 change the landscape – and outcome – of the race. (Photo by Nadia Zomorodian/Daytona Beach News-Journal)}**

Nevertheless, the final five laps featured some exciting green flag racing that culminated with another wreck just as the white flag came out and made William Byron a first-time winner under a caution flag.

It wasn’t my man, Brad, but I got to know Byron through the Netflix series, “Full Speed.” I recently completed it during my morning treadmill time and found Byron’s story to be remarkable. He learned to race not in a car by on a computer simulator long before he got behind a wheel. If that’s not a modern-day fairy tale I’m not sure what it.

Happy Presidents’ Day to me:-)

**^{He may not have been the best at his craft, but there’s an}**
**^{argument to be made that no one did ‘this’ harder.}**

As the Detroit Red Wings celebrated the 25th anniversary of their 1997 and 1998 back-to-back Stanley Cup Championship earlier this week, among those honored was Joe Kocur. Kocur was originally a fifth-round draft pick by the Red Wings in 1983 (the same year Detroit selected future Hockey Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman in Round 1).

Kocur was known for his physical style of play as well as his devastating right hand which was known break helmets (and teeth and jaws and orbital bones). He was out of the NHL following the 1996 season and was playing with the San Antonio Dragons of the International Hockey League when Yzerman recommended bringing him back to Coach Scotty Bowman. Kocur appeared in just 34 regular-season games but dressed for 19 of the 20 playoff contests that season including all four in the Finals’ sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers. He finished with a goal and an assist during the Finals.

Kocur returned for two more seasons and was once again a playoff workhorse in 1998, playing in 18 of 22 post-season games. He scored a single goal during the Wings’ repeat Stanley Cup Championship, a sweep of the Washington Capitals.

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